Happy to be Home
by EarthsChampion
Summary: Take place right after the last sentence in House of Hades. If you haven't read House of Hades yet, I highly suggest that you do, for this will spoil it all for you.


"Bob says hello," he told the stars.

The _Argo II _sailed into the night.

Annabeth wrapped her arms around Percy's waist and made her way under his arm. She rested her head on his chest as they stared up at the sky. "Damasen says hello as well." She said softly as she looked towards the full moon, which lit the ocean and their ship with a fabulous glow. She couldn't help but frown at the thought of their good friends, Bob the Titan and Damasen the Giant. They risked their lives against Tartarus himself so that Percy and Annabeth can get into the Doors of Death. She had became friends with a few monsters in her life, such as their Cyclops friend Tyson, and his girlfriend, Ella the harpy. She smiled at the thought of having Bob, and Small-Bob, the skeletal saber-toothed tiger, and Damasen the Titan as her friends. It showed Annabeth that good things can come in the worst of places, that even in the darkest of tunnels, there's always a small light of hope.

Percy rubbed Annabeth's back once he felt her nuzzle into him. He closed his eyes and smiled from the moving of the _Argo II _among the waves, the ocean breeze, the sound of the water hitting against the ship. How he's missed it. It was so hard for him to believe that he and Annabeth were just in Tartarus not too long ago. Now, their time in Tartarus feels like nothing but a dream to him. A very, very bad dream, which was not uncommon to demigods. He inhaled the smell of the ocean once more before opening his eyes and looking to Annabeth. "Come on, let's get some sleep, in our **own** bed." He said with a smile as he kissed her forehead gently.

A smile formed on Annabeth's lips as the thought of sleep raced through her mind. The thought of being in bed on the _Argo II_, surrounded by the safety of the ocean with a cool breeze, not having to breathe in poisonous-air or drink firewater, or even worry about monsters finding where they were sleeping. She didn't have to sleep with one-eye open, or with her sword ready to fight. She could trap herself in Percy's embrace, and let all her worries drift away as she calmly fell asleep with Percy next to her. "Away from the monsters?"

"Away from the monsters." He said with a smile as his hand gripped her side, holding her close to himself.

"And away from your drool?" She asked with a light laugh before leaning up to kiss him on his cheek. "Sleep sounds good right now, but first, I want to get rid of any remains of Tartarus **off** of me."

"You can **join** me." Percy said with a smile.

Annabeth hit his chest as she broke away from his arms. "Don't be gross." She said with a laugh.

He shrugged and backed up towards the railing. "Suit yourself." He then hopped over the side of the ship, and dove into the ocean below.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled as she ran to the edge where Percy had been. She looked down into the water worriedly, scanning the ocean as best as she could. Then, she remembered. "Son of Poseidon." She said to herself as she shook her head and released a sigh. "Very funny, Percy, **very funny**. Now **come** on, get up here." She said as she continued to look for him, but still had no luck finding him. "Percy?" She asked as her worry returned. "It would be just our luck that you dove right into the mouth of a shark or something. C'mon, Seaweed Brain! **Come out of the water**!" Still no sight of Percy. "Alright, I'm giving you until the count of three, then I'm done playing this game, got it? **One**...**Two**...**Th**-"

"**Three**!" Percy said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, lifting her into the air a bit as he kissed her cheek a few times and laughed.

Annabeth squealed as she felt herself getting picked up off the ground. She laughed a bit once she felt Percy kiss her cheek. "Gods, Percy! You scared me to death!"

He laughed a bit more as he set her back onto the ground. "What'd you think happened? I got eaten by a shark or something?"

She blinked before looking up at him. "Well...yeah, but that's not the point!" She said before hitting his chest playfully. "No separating us! **Remember**?"

Percy frowned a bit before placing his hands on her waist. "Annabeth, I'm sorry." He said softly as he kissed her cheek. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just...I just wanted to cheer you up."

Annabeth sighed before hugging him. "I know, Percy, I know. I'm sorry, I just overreacted a bit. Tartarus has me scared about losing you, even here, anything can happen." She looked up at him and stared into his sea-green eyes. "Can you forgive me?"

He kissed her tenderly before hugging her once more. "Come on, I'll walk you to the bathroom." He wrapped his arm around her waist once more as they walked to the bathroom. He noticed how most of the others went to sleep. "Jason and Piper are asleep in Jason's room." Percy said as they passed by.

"Frank and Hazel are asleep in Hazel's room." Annabeth said softly as they passed her room. "It's amazing how we still act like normal teenagers sometimes."

"What do you mean?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I mean, Chiron told us that we can't share beds at camp; I'm sure the same rule applies at Camp Jupiter, and Hedge was mad at us when we fell asleep in the stables. Now, once the adults are gone, we do **exactly** what they didn't want us to do." She said with a light laugh. "It's pretty funny."

Percy laughed a bit with her as he kissed her cheek. "Well, I guess some rules are just **too dumb**, which is why we bend them." Once at the bathroom, he kissed Annabeth's lips once more. "I'll be waiting in my room for you." He said with a smile as he began to walk away.

"Make sure you dry yourself off and put on some clean clothes!" Annabeth said to him before he trailed away. Annabeth smiled at Percy and went to open the door, but it was locked. "Um, Leo?" She asked as she tapped on the door.

Leo opened the door and put his toothbrush back into his tool belt. "Hey, Annabeth, what's up?" He asked with a smile.

Annabeth realized he put his toothbrush in his tool belt, and became a bit confused. "Um, why do you put your toothbrush in your tool belt?"

Leo looked at her in confusion, as if it would be odd for him to put his toothbrush with everyone else's. "So I don't forget which is mine? But somehow, I feel like that's not why you're here."

"I was hoping to use the shower, is it working?"

"Yeah! I tuned it up so it has some more pressure, makes it feel even nicer. I learned that from Cal-" He stopped himself and frowned. "Cal-Calvin's bathroom decor! My mom used to have some magazines in her shop, she would try and work on other things besides cars." He lied as he scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "It's all yours, help yourself! I'll be taking care of Festus a bit more before I hit the sack." He said as he scooted out. "Goodnight, Annabeth. And, welcome back." He gave her a quick salute before running down the hall. On his way up the stairs, he bumped into Percy. "Oof! My bad Percy, you alright?"

Percy was going to look at the ocean once more before he found himself lying on his stomach on the deck of the _Argo II_. He got up and dusted himself off before turning to Leo, who looked scared and worried. "I'm okay, Leo, don't worry. If your worry anymore, you're gonna burst into flames." He said with a laugh as he pat his shoulder. "What's up?"

Leo sighed and walked over to the railing. "Can I tell you something?" He asked as he turned his head to face him.

Percy was a bit surprised at first. Normally, Leo is always being a jokester; he rarely saw him acting serious about something, except when it came to his machines. "Sure, Leo, what's on your mind?" He asked as he walked up to him, his back towards the ocean as he leaned back on the railing.

He let out a sigh as he hung his head. "These ice-dudes from Quebec and their sister Khione found us while we were sailing, Khione shot me into the air and I landed...I landed on Ogygia." He said softly as he turned to face Percy.

Once he heard the name, Percy's heart sank. He instantly remembered his time in Ogygia, his time with Calypso. He remembered her offer, and he turned it down, he left her alone, and the _arai _had made Percy feel the pain from the curse of Calypso while in Tartarus. "You saw Calypso I'm guessing..." He said softly with a frown as he turned to the water, his head sinking low as his hands hung above the ocean, releasing a giant sigh. "Oh Calypso...I wish I could apologize to her, to take her away from that gods-forsaken island. But the gods should've taken care of her! They promised!"

"Yeah, she mentioned something about that." Leo said as he scratched the back of his head. "She mentioned you too...and Odysseus." He patted Percy on his back. "Hey, don't worry, she's doing great! In fact, she was glad I left!"

Percy blinked and looked up at Leo. "She was glad? But she falls in love with every guy that lands there."

Leo continued to scratch his head. "Yeah...**about landing**...I smashed her table on the beach when I landed on the island, and she hated me for it. She dragged me to the water and told me to say how I didn't want to be there so that the boat would come. But, the boat wasn't showing up, so I ended up being there for awhile. Anyway, turns out that Calypso is pretty cool after all. She even helped me with a boat that I was going to use to get us both off that stupid island. We were sitting down and eating when **the boat** came to the shore. I kept telling her to come with me, but she said how she couldn't. Then...she kissed me, **Calypso kissed me**, I didn't want to leave her...So I swore on the River Styx that I would return to Ogygia and rescue her from that island."

"Leo...I'm sorry but, it's impossible. No one can free Calypso-"

"I can. And **I will**. I swore **on the Styx**. She's counting on me, Percy...I need to rescue Calypso." Leo's heart felt heavy, and his eyes became sad. He looked to Percy, and he slowly felt weak. "If I don't...if I **can't free her**..."

Percy hugged him tightly. "Hey, y'know what? Screw Ogygia. Screw the impossible. **We're demigods**! If anyone can make the impossible **possible**, it's us." He said with a smile as he released from the hug and looked at Leo. "We'll rescue Calypso. Even if it's just you and me, we **will **rescue her, Leo. I promise."

Leo smiled and began to feel a bit better. "You swear?"

Percy began to second-guess himself. What if they couldn't rescue Calypso? Leo can be putting himself in danger just by swearing on the River Styx. He looked at Leo, the giant smile on his face, the enthusiasm flowing from him. He couldn't let him down. "I swear on the River Styx, I will help you." He couldn't tell Annabeth, she would personally send him back into Tartarus if he did.

Leo gave Percy a giant hug. "Thanks, Percy! You're a great guy!" He said with a smile before walking down the steps. "I'm gonna hit the sack, see ya in the morning." He said with a smile as he also gave Percy a quick salute before heading to his chambers.

Once again, Percy's heart sank. For leaving Calypso, and for making an impossible promise to Leo, **especially** for swearing that promise on the River Styx. He looked to the ocean and closed his eyes. "Dad...If you're listening, I'm sure you know that I'm back from Tartarus. And uh...I know this is **a lot** to ask, probably can't even be done but...can you please watch over me and Leo? He swore on the Styx about something that can never be accomplished, and I kinda got dragged into doing the same thing. So, if you can do **anything** at all, I would really appreciate it."

He stared out into the ocean, waiting for some kind of sign from his dad. "Annabeth says hi...well, she would if she was here. She's okay too, she's in the shower right now, but she's okay. She would be grateful too if you could do something. I know she would. So uh, yeah, that's about it." He waited a bit more before sighing softly. "Goodnight, dad, thanks for the talk." He made his way below deck once more and went into his room. Gods, it's been far too long since he's seen his room. He wanted to just walk up to every part of it and say hello to it, but that could've just been a form of his exhaustion. He dressed into his blue flannel pants, and his white t-shirt. He sat on his bed and looked down at the floor, images of Tartarus still flooding his vision.

Annabeth slowly opened the door and walked into the room. She was wearing her short light-blue pajama shorts, and her light blue tank-top. She noticed a frown on Percy's face, knowing exactly what he was thinking about. Images began to go through her mind, mostly of Bob and Damasen, and when Percy almost died from poison while in Tartarus. He would've died if not for Bob bringing him to Damasen. She sobbed a bit as she covered her mouth and held her side.

Percy snapped out of his mini-trance and looked to Annabeth. He saw the sadness in her eyes, her body shaking, and the tears rapidly falling from her face. He jumped out of the bed and ran the five steps to her, immediately wrapping his arms around her and pressing her body to his own. He kissed the top of her head before resting his head on top of her own. "It's okay, Annabeth, it's okay. We're safe now." He spoke softly to her as he swayed them a bit.

"That's why I'm crying, Seaweed Brain." She said with a shaky laugh as she lifted her head to look at him. "We're safe, **we are safe**." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "**No more** poison. **No more** firewater. **No more** death. **We're safe**."

Percy had brought them over to his bed; Annabeth instantly lifting her legs to rest on Percy's lap as she snuggled into him, kissing his cheek multiple times. It took him a bit to realize it, but she was right, they were safe. Tears formed in his eyes as he smiled, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face into her neck. "Y-Yeah, we're safe. We're **finally** safe." He kissed her lips and her cheek before hugging her some more.

Annabeth raked her fingers through his hair as she kissed his temple. "I love you, Percy." She said softly, smiling as she said it. She knew that she said it three times now, but this was the first time she could casually say it. The first time, she was filled with so much joy when Percy pushed the Romans into the water and returned her knife. The second time, she feared it would be her last words as they fell into Tartarus. And the third, was during an argument about getting her into the Doors of Death while he held the button for her. But now, she could say it, and didn't have to feel anything but pure love for Percy as she did so.

Percy's tears finished falling from his face once he heard Annabeth's voice. To him, her voice sounded as angelic as an angel, but he knew angels didn't exist on Olympus. The only thing he could compare it too was Aphrodite's beauty, but to Percy, Annabeth had more beauty than Aphrodite could ever have. Luckily, Annabeth taught him to never insult the gods out loud, for it always ended badly. He decided to lay down on his bed, turning onto his side as he wrapped both arms around Annabeth. He felt her snuggle as close as she could to him, her head resting above his heart, which felt as if his heart was beating louder than usual.

Her eyes felt as heavy as when she had to hold up the sky. She was beginning to fall asleep quickly, but she forced herself to attempt staying awake, in hopes that Percy would say he loved her. "Goodnight, Seaweed Brain." She said tiredly as she tangled her feet with Percy's, feeling nothing but love and bliss as he cradled her in his embrace.

"Goodnight, Wise Girl." He said softly with a smile as he kissed her lips tenderly before resting his head on the pillow, his fingers gently brushing the back of Annabeth's neck. "I love you, Annabeth." He said just as softly, hoping she heard him. He knew that he had never said it to her, but he's always showed that he loved her. Between going on all the quests with her, their underwater kiss, even falling into Tartarus with her. He may have never told her that he loved her, but he always showed it as much as he could. He opened one eye to check if hopefully Annabeth heard him. He couldn't help but smile as he heard her gentle snoring, signaling her deep sleep. Even though he wished she heard him, he understood they were both overtly-exhausted. He closed his eyes and instantly fell asleep.

A tear of joy feel from her eye. A small smile had formed on her mouth as she curled into him a bit more, instantly sleeping once he finished talking.


End file.
